TEXAS ETHICS COMMISSION

ETHICS ADVISORY OPINION NO. 359

February 14, 1997

Whether a legislator may use political contributions to pay or reimburse
expenditures incurred by a staff member who maintains a residence in Austin to lease and
furnish an apartment in the legislators district. (AOR-396)

The Texas Ethics Commission has been asked whether a legislator may use political
contributions to pay or reimburse expenditures incurred by a staff member to lease and
furnish an apartment in the legislators district. The legislator has asked the staff
member to spend time in the legislators district during the legislative session in
order to maintain contact with the legislators constituents. The staff member
normally resides in Austin and would continue to maintain a residence there.

A candidate or officeholder may not convert political contributions to "personal
use." Elec. Code § 253.035. "Personal use" means a use that
"primarily furthers individual or family purposes not connected with the performance
of duties or activities as a candidate for or holder of a public office." Id.
§ 253.035(d). The expenses in question here are clearly expenses in connection with
the legislators activities as a candidate or officeholder; therefore the legislator
may use political contributions to pay those expenses.

A related question is whether the legislators payment of the expenses in question
is a prohibited benefit to the staff member. Penal Code section 36.08(f) prohibits a
legislative employee from accepting a benefit from any person. A benefit is defined as
"anything reasonably regarded as pecuniary gain or pecuniary advantage." Penal
Code § 36.01(3). In our opinion, payment or reimbursement of the expenses in question
here does not constitute a "benefit" to the staff member. Although a legislative
staff member would normally have to pay the expense of maintaining one residence regardless
of whether he was employed by the legislature, the costs associated with maintaining a
second residence are attributable solely to the specific and temporary demands of his
current employment. Therefore, the legislators payment of those expenses is not to
the personal pecuniary advantage of the staff member and is not a prohibited
"benefit" to the staff member. See also Ethics Advisory Opinion No. 254
(1995) (regarding salary supplements to legislative employees).

SUMMARY

A legislator may use political contributions to pay or reimburse expenditures incurred
by a staff member who normally resides in Austin to lease and furnish a second residence
in the legislators district if the legislator has requested that the staff member
spend time in the legislators district during the legislative session to maintain
contact with the legislators constituents. In the situation described in this
opinion, the legislators payment of those expenses is not a prohibited
"benefit" to the staff member.